Data-Keepers are the Core of Care

Program trains students for diverse, developing field of Health Information Management

As COVID-19 leaps around the planet, the role of data-tracking the virus plays out
in real time in a computer lab at Central Oregon Community College (COCC). Seventeen
students of the Health Information Management (HIM) program, seated at workstations on the Bend campus, are learning how agencies use health
data to usher in management and containment plans.

“Our job is to help build the facts, to bring the facts to the community,” Wendy Earthsong
said to her class. “We’re the conduit for information.”

The assistant professor walks her students through a patient scenario. She explains
how information flows from, say, a patient’s records at St. Charles Health System
to county health services and then on to the Oregon Health Authority before reaching
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and, ultimately, the World Health Organization.
It all initiates with a health information professional at a keyboard.

Byte by byte, patient by patient, aggregate health information can have a huge impact
when it comes to addressing a global health crisis. Of course, zoomed in, that data
is most pertinent to the care and well-being of the individual patient it represents.
Managing and processing this material — establishing the very core of a patient’s
care — are the trained info technicians who employ organization, detail and a sense
of stewardship to carry out their work.

Like a Swiss Army knife, there are many foldout tools to a career in HIM, all joining
to be part of the same whole. Some skills are focused on insurance or billing. Others
center on coding — taking data through a system of parsing and categorizing. One-on-one
patient interactions and working in teams, even guiding medical staff and administrators
through things like HIPAA regulation updates, can be part of the job.

Wendi Worthington, COCC’s health careers outreach and recruitment coordinator, works
to connect career-seekers — such as high school seniors — with fields like HIM. “I
can’t tell you how many students have said, ‘I want to go into health care, but I’m
not sure I want to go into the blood and guts side of health care. Or, I want to go
into business or accounting or management, but I want to do it where I feel I’m helping
people,’” she said. “This can mesh those two worlds.”

Michelle Aistear, COCC’s HIM director, is herself a veteran of the banking industry.
She found a more meaningful career thanks to an insightful COCC counselor — and never
looked back. “It’s been amazing,” she said of the path.

Byte by byte, patient by patient, aggregate health information can have a huge impact
when it comes to addressing a global health crisis. Of course, zoomed in, that data
is most pertinent to the care and well-being of the individual patient it represents.
Managing and processing this material — establishing the very core of a patient’s
care — are the trained info technicians who employ organization, detail and a sense
of stewardship to carry out their work.

The program starts a new cohort of up to 30 students each fall. These students have
already put three prerequisite classes behind them and are ready for lessons in human
anatomy, medical terminology, business communication and data collection, among other
subjects. “They need to be on track, prerequisites in pocket, for a fall entry date,”
explained Aistear.

The program yields a series of certificates along the way, each a stepping stone that
cumulatively builds into an associate degree. Punctuating both years is a hands-on,
40-hour directed practice experience — at places like doctors’ offices and hospitals
— that puts training into action during the weeklong summer internships.

Many will finish the degree in two years. Some, with work and family obligations,
will split the second year into two segments — one of several customized approaches
that makes the program feasible for busy lives — and, while taking an extra year,
it creates the just-right recipe of flexibility and schoolwork.

COCC’s training is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics
and Information Management Education, one of only two schools in the state to carry
that distinction. It preps students for both the Registered Health Information Technician
and Certified Coding Associate exams, the nationally recognized standards.

Graduates might work in a clinic, a dental practice or maybe an ambulatory surgery
center, among other settings. The field plugs into more than 40 unique work environments
and over 125 job titles. “This is a skill set that is more and more in demand,” said
Earthsong. “Health care is not hospital-based anymore.”

In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a steady growth rate of 11
percent in the profession from 2018 to 2028, owing to the sheer volume of the country’s
aging population and a resulting bounce in the health care workforce. With an average
annual wage of $47,780, Central Oregon’s health information sector ranked fourth in
the country in 2018 for top-paying non-metropolitan areas, according to a study by
the U.S. Department of Labor. Statewide, annual earnings pushed higher in 2018, averaging
$48,390.

“I come from the mindset of helping people realize that there are college opportunities
for everyone, whether it’s right out of high school or a stay-at-home parent wanting
to go back,” said Worthington. “Health care careers are a phenomenal way to get your
foot in the door into high-demand, high-paying careers.”

For more details on the Health Information Management program, contact Wendi Worthington
at 541-383-7713 or wworthington@cocc.edu.